World Cup 2010: Top 10 highest-paid players now a little less rich

Barcelona's Lionel Messi of Argentina duels for the ball with Sevilla's Didier Zokora from Ivory Coast (right) during their La Liga soccer match in Sevilla, Spain, last month. Messi, the highest-paid player at World Cup 2010, has lost up to $5.5 million in dollar terms because of the euro's plunge since March.

Five others among the Top 10 best-paid players at the World Cup are in the same boat because they play for pro teams in the euro zone. No. 2 Cristiano Ronaldo, playing for Real Madrid, has lost up to $5 million in dollar terms since March. His teammate No. 3 Kaka has lost up to $3.2 million. (Click on the chart above.)

Collectively, the six players have lost $21 million -- an average $3.5 million apiece -- in dollar buying power since March. (Again, that assumes their earnings are all in euros.)

Granted, these athletes continue to earn in a year what most people could never earn in several lifetimes. Still, if you're a soccer superstar concerned about preserving the value of your pay, consider playing for an English team.

This may be one reason that Britain has become a magnet for elite players.

A better solution, at least if you're a fan of the greenback, is to play in the United States. David Beckham's "time-share" arrangement, where he plays partly for Milan and partly for the Los Angeles Galaxy, has probably sheltered his earnings somewhat and could conceivably make him, again, the world's highest paid soccer player. But an injury means he'll miss the World Cup.

Even the top soccer players don't earn quite at the level of other stars like, say, Kobe Bryant of the NBA ($45 million) or pro golfer Tiger Woods ($110 million). Since they're US athletes paid in dollars, they've been sheltered from the euro storm.